Learn about the top 7 foods you want to avoid to be healthier. Most doctors do not talk to their patients about the importance of diet. These foods have been known to cause health issues. We will discuss how inflammation and oxidative stress have an impact on your health.
Podcast 27 Transcript
Welcome to Physician Heal Thyself, the podcast empowering you to take a whole-person approach to your well-being, spirit, soul, and body. Join me, your host, Dr. Ana Lara, a naturopathic doctor, entrepreneur, and a servant of Jesus Christ. We are not just a body, we are spirit and soul. It’s time to integrate medicine and spirituality into our healing. Let’s get started.
Welcome back to Physician Heal By Self, the podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Ana Lara, and this is episode 27, and guys, we are knocking them out of the way. In this episode, I want to talk about a couple of things related to nutrition, especially because in the last couple of episodes, we’ve talked about food and diet and so forth. So, in this conversation, I want to talk about the top seven foods that you should avoid for better health. Now, I want to disclose. This is for educational purposes, not that telling someone not to eat sugar is going to be a harmful thing.
It’s actually a good thing. But keep in mind this is for educational purposes only, and it’s not intended to treat or provide medical guidance for anyone. Please speak to your doctor, and if your doctor is not able to help you with this, we’ll talk about some ways that you can reach out to me and potentially work with me directly. I want to disclose I am a practicing physician. So all of these things that I’m telling you are exactly the same things that I tell all my patients. They may vary to some degree, but when I consult with patients, these are the things that I go through when we talk about nutrition and avoiding some of these foods that can be very detrimental to their health. Now, I always provide a specialized approach to each person, but I don’t know any person who really does well with all of these foods.
Let’s go ahead and get started. These foods are either foods or food categories or additives that you definitely want to avoid, and I’ll tell you all of them upfront, and then we’ll break it down into specifically why I recommend that you not consume these. Sometimes, I tell people to avoid them all or reduce them in their diet completely. It just depends on what kind of conditions we are working with. Those foods are sugar, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, and ate foods, which are categories of foods, and we’ll talk about those. Then, MSG, also known as monosodium glutamate, was added. And this is a food additive that you’ll find in a lot of processed foods. So let’s get into it. The first one is sugar. I mean, sugar has no nutritional whatsoever, but what we do know and understand is that it causes a lot of inflammation and it’s so highly addictive.
Do you know that sugar stimulates the same part of the brain that cocaine and any other drug do? So it’s not uncommon that when I see patients, or I know of people who are coming off of a drug that they’ve been abusing over the years, their next plan to do is to start to eat sugar. They start to eat a lot of candy and sweet things because sugar is going to trigger a strong dopamine response in the brain, and this is what leads them to have those cravings. So, even let’s say that you don’t have a history of drug abuse whatsoever, and you do have, however, a sugar addiction, which is a real thing. I had one before. Usually, when people are stressed, they go for something sweet because it elicits that dopamine response and it makes us feel good. And the more of that dopamine hit that we get, the more we want more, and the more we want more.
Before you know it, most of your diet consists of sugary foods, sugary drinks, and things that make you feel better. They make you feel better for a short moment, but unfortunately, in the long run, they actually make you feel worse. So, sugar, I tell all my patients and people who are watching this episode, who are my patients, will tell you that I always say sugar is going to fuel more inflammation and oxidative stress. And we’re going to talk about those two things later on. Like I said, when a person’s overstimulated with sugar, they’re not going to want to eat vegetables; they’re not going to even want to eat fruits. But as we wean people off of sugar, what I start to see is that their palate and brain start to neutralize, and then they’re able to eat vegetables in their diet.
They’re able to eat more fruits and other fruits that are healthier for them. Foods that are people who have a high-sugar diet this is going to lead to excess glucose in the brain, and we know that too much sugar in the brain is going to cause some degeneration there. Ultimately, what that means is you’re going to have memory and cognitive deficiencies in the long run. So we know that sugar feeds cancer cells, and it obviously causes diabetes and weight gain. So there’s really no nutritional value when it comes to these refined sugars, these processed sugars that we find in processed foods, and we also find in sugary drinks. I always tell my patients the easiest way to do this, even if you just start with this, is to stop drinking sugary drinks. Now, you can find replacements that don’t affect blood sugars, like stevia or monk fruit.
I often get asked about honey. Honey is going to be in moderation because if you’re doing too much honey, it’s still going to affect blood sugars and create some inflammation, although there are some other nutritional values with honey, such as raw honey. The second food category that I tell people to eliminate or reduce, and people don’t like me when I say this, is cow dairy. Cow dairy causes a lot of inflammation for many conditions. And oftentimes, I’ll hear people say, oh, but I’m not lactose intolerant. I’m fine. Well, it’s not just about causing digestive issues. Yes, it’s true. For some people who truly are lactose intolerant, drinking cow milk or eating cow dairy products is going to cause diarrhea or constipation in some people, and it can cause skin issues and so many other issues. But even people who don’t think they have symptoms when they remove all of the cow dairy out of their diet for, say, two or three weeks and they have it again, now they’re able to see what those effects are on them individually.
If you have eczema or psoriasis or any skin conditions, you’re going to notice that if dairy is something that you’re sensitive to, it’s going to irritate these conditions. So if you have conditions where creating mucus is an issue, such as asthma, any breathing problems, or COPD, you really want to avoid dairy, it is just not going to make the situation any better. It creates more mucus, and the mucus becomes a little bit more viscous and a little thicker, which is not good for most of us. So we just avoid dairy when there are chronic conditions that we’re working with. The next category, I’m sure many of you hear these online and on social media, is gluten. Gluten is a protein that’s been extracted from wheat. There are two ways that we can look at the problems with gluten. One is that because it’s been extracted from wheat, it’s also used in many processed foods.
It’s even used in skin products because it helps with the texture of substances. We are so overexposed to gluten products that I believe that people have just developed a sensitivity to gluten, causing allergic reactions or other symptoms from it. But also because it’s coming from wheat, we know that a lot of our wheat products in this country are heavily sprayed. They’re genetically modified. And so because of that, we believe that some of those things in gluten are also causing people to have adverse reactions to it. So gluten is a neurotoxin, and that means that it is literally toxic to your brain. While some people can have digestive issues with consuming gluten right, some people have neurological symptoms from it. So there’s a condition called celiac’s disease. And people who have celiac disease, they truly have an allergic reaction to gluten.
They cannot eat wheat products. Their gut is inflamed, it’ll cause diarrhea. And in some, it’ll cause constipation and a lot of abdominal pain. So we want to avoid gluten when you have celiac disease, but so many people have gluten sensitivity, and they won’t know until they clean up their diet. You need a clean slate. When you introduce something that’s gluten, you’ll notice that you can heal the gut so that your body doesn’t react to it. So I always tell people in the initial stages of working through cleaning up the diet, we will completely avoid these foods. But when you start to introduce yourself or you first want to heal the gut, healing the gut is different for everyone. It can take months, it can take several years. I know I had a gluten sensitivity that I didn’t know about until I cleared up my diet back in 2011.
What I noticed was that any little thing that had gluten, I would have a migraine, and my mood would change. I would become so antisocial and very depressed, and I would be so fatigued I had to fall asleep. And so then I was moody and cranky for the rest of the next day or two, and that was a neurotoxin effect on me. Now, as I eliminated these things completely, I started to heal my gut. Over time and over the years, what I notice now is that if I have a piece of pizza that’s not gluten-free, guess what? I don’t react to it. But it did take several years for me to heal my gut. And this is the case for most people. It eliminates the thing that’s irritating the body and gives the body what it needs to heal. As you continue, you have to continue to avoid these foods that are causing the destructive issue.
Over time, there may be times when you can have these foods in moderation. It can’t be something that I can’t eat pizza every day. I’ll go back to having an issue with that. And so that’s where I discuss things with my patients. So gluten can cause inflammation. It’s terrible in autoimmune conditions. And if you have joint pain, it can definitely elicit a greater pain response for people with joint pain. I’m going to kind of group the other two foods together, soy and corn. The reason I want to group these two together is because we know that soy and corn in this country, in the United States are highly genetically modified. About 80% or so of soy and corn are genetically modified. And so, our bodies experience a lot of adverse reactions from constant exposure to these foods.
Also, you’re going to find that these two foods are used as additives in so many processed foods and beauty products. We develop a sensitivity to that constant re-exposure to soy, corn, and gluten over time. So with soy products that are genetically modified, especially for people with autoimmune conditions, if they have a thyroid autoimmune condition like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Graves disease, I tell them entirely to avoid soy like it’s the devil. Just stay away from it. If you’re going to use beauty products, you have to look at the beauty products to make sure there are no soy derivatives in that product because someone is still entering the bloodstream. Our skin is an organ that detoxifies and absorbs, and it is the largest organ we have. And we oftentimes overlook the importance of our skin. If we’re not cautious about what we’re putting on our skin, we could be exposing ourselves to those things that we’re sensitive to that are causing an allergic reaction or any kind of negative reaction in our body.
Soy and corn, as I said, are a “no,” especially for people who have a lot of chronic conditions. I hope you’re enjoying this. Make sure you’re taking notes. Go back, re-listen, and take notes of these things because it’s very important to understand why you’re not going to eat these foods so that you can be healthier. The next category is going to be the nice shade foods. Some people are familiar with these, some are not. Most of the people that I consult with for the first time in my office are just not familiar with what a nice shade is. These foods you can look them up online, and there are tons of them, but you want to focus on the ones that are the highest in the category of containing what’s called lectin. So these are tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, white potatoes, legumes, peanuts, and whole grains.
These niha foods contain something called lectin, which is a protein that binds to carbohydrates, and it’s this lectin that causes inflammation in the bodies of some people. I won’t say all people bust some people. These lectins have a function in the plant itself. It protects the plant from bacteria, insects, and fungi. These lectins contain a molecule called phyto-hema-glutamine. Say that 10 times Phytohemaglutamine, this compound, it’s a protein. What it causes is that the red blood cells and the white blood cells clump together. Guys. Red blood cells and white blood cells are not supposed to clump together. They’re supposed to be individuals. They’re supposed to flow through the veins and arteries and get from one part to the other part of the body so that it’s sending the right information that it needs to in those red blood cells and white blood cells.
And so when you have cells that clump together, you’re going to develop inflammation, you’re going to develop this disease because the word disease in itself says that there is no ease in the flow. There’s no ease in the flow of these red blood cells. It causes stagnation. And we know just by looking at nature that a river flows, and when the river stops flowing, it becomes stagnant, and you get all kinds of green, icky stuff that grows their bacteria and fungi. This is what lectins can cause in some people. And so we see that continuously in my practice. There’s research on this, but if my patient has this reaction and stops these foods and they get better, that’s enough evidence for me to see that these foods are causing these issues in people. So it can cause digestive issues, it can cause autoimmune flareups, joint pain gets worse, and increased inflammation.
It affects our immune system once again because the blood is not flowing properly. And so it’s very interesting to me when I get someone who comes in for joint pain, we’re talking diet, we’re talking nutrition, and they’re thinking, I thought you were just going to give me something right for my pain. Yeah, that’s what your conventional doctor will do, or other doctors will do. But as naturopathic doctors, we look at attrition as the main place to start to help you with your pain. So I talked about these lectins and the nice shea foods, and I instructed them to eliminate them. Give yourself three weeks without these foods. And I want you to introduce one food at a time for three days and see what effects you have. And if you don’t have any negative effects from that food, then we know it’s okay for you to eat that and then move on to the next food.
If you eat tomatoes and your joint pain increases or your symptoms increase, then we know that’s a food that you have to avoid. This is the way we test people to know is this food is good for you or not. It’s a process, and it’s like 10 out of 10 times. Guys, when my patients stop the lectins and the nice shade foods, their pain is down. And so when they introduce foods one at a time, they will say, I can’t have tomatoes. Or when I have bell peppers, this happens. Or when I eat potatoes, this happens. We need to identify what those foods are causing in our bodies. Just so you know, red kidney beans do have, and white kidney beans have high levels of these hemagglutinins. And so consuming these in high amounts, which I doubt many people are consuming these in high amounts, can cause toxicity in the body.
And so, here’s a fun tip that I want to share with you guys because a lot of people ask me, why do we get gassy when we eat beans? And they’re good for you, right? For the most part. Well, we have this enzyme called amylase, and amylase is found in our mouth, in our saliva, and our pancreas will secrete it. Amylase is used to break down and process carbohydrates. So, beans have this: they contain something called alpha-amylase inhibitor. It’s inhibiting the amylase that we have in our mouth and in our pancreas to break down the carbohydrates from the beans properly, right? So because beans contain a complex sugar, this sugar is called illegal saccharides. That and the fiber content in beans make it difficult for our digestive system to properly digest it. So when the beans get to the large intestine, the bacteria in this area is going to break it down finally in the large intestine.
The byproduct of the breakdown is gas. So this is what causes the flatulence. What I advise my patients to do before they consume beans is that I don’t like buying canned beans. I am Mexican, so we don’t do canned beans; we make them ourselves. Whether it’s lentils, white beans, black beans, kidney beans, or white beans, you soak the beans for five hours or more, and we can leave them soaking overnight. You dump the water, you boil those beans in fresh water. Then, I take it a step further. Once the water starts to get a coloring from the bean and it’s been boiling for a while, I’ll dump that water out. I’ll rinse the beans, and I’ll put fresh water, a couple of cloves of garlic, and a small piece of ginger because these things help offset the gassiness.
But by dumping the water and soaking them, what happens is that some of these illegal saccharides, these sugar molecules, are released in the water, and you’re dumping them instead of eating them. And I’ll tell you, when I make beans, or my mom makes the beans this way, I can eat those, but anyone else’s beans, forget it. It’s not going to settle well with my digestive system. So try that to help reduce the gassiness. There are a lot of benefits to consuming beans. The next food that’s really a food additive is MSG, which is the pure devil. It should be illegal to have in this country and to be added to our foods. You’re going to find MSG in a lot of the processed foods, all these sauces, barbecue sauce, spaghetti sauce, all of those things you want to take a look at in the ingredients list because you’re going to see that m ms G is in there.
A lot of restaurants will add it, and they add it to enhance the flavor of foods. It also makes it very addicting. So you want to eat more of it, and that’s why they put it so that you can go back and buy more and eat more again. But the effects of MSG, it’s a neurotoxin, and it’s been linked to obesity, metabolic disorders, and just so much more. So most of the time when people get rid of MSG in their diet and they accidentally have it, they’re going to have a neurotoxin effect from that. We’re going to jump into a little bit about talking about inflammation and oxidative stress. One thing that I want you to understand is that inflammation is a normal part of the body’s response to injury and infection. There’s always some level of inflammation occurring in our body that’s natural, and it’s okay if you work out at the gym and lift heavy weights, your body’s going to have some inflammation because it’s the inflammation that recruits your immune system to go there and heal and repair that muscle to make it stronger.
The problem with inflammation is when you have high levels of inflammation, and it’s constantly there, so this is what we call chronic inflammation. It’s high, and it’s always there, and this type of inflammation will cause damage to healthy cells and healthy tissue, and we don’t want to kill healthy cells and healthy tissue. Oxidative stress is another component that’s a problem in our body. The way I explain oxidative stress to my patients in simple layman’s terms is to imagine that old metal car that used to sit in someone’s backyard was just getting rusty. Well, that rust is similar to oxidative stress, that rust on metal eats up and breaks down the metal, and oxidative stress does the same things to our cells and our tissue, and we absolutely don’t want that to happen. The best way to avoid having high levels of oxidative stress and inflammation is you avoid all those.
Actually, there were eight different foods that I mentioned or categories of foods to avoid because these are going to cause oxidative stress and inflammation. To offset some of the oxidative stress, we want to consume foods that are high and antioxidants because it’s the antioxidant that’s going to help reduce that oxidative stress and inflammation. So some examples of antioxidants are vitamins A, C, vitamin E, copper, zing, selenium, and things like that. But instead of consuming those as supplements, you should eat them as food. So the foods that you’re going to find these in are your berries and strawberries. So, are there any of the berry family pecans? Guess what? Dark chocolate, too. Artichokes, spinach, kale, broccoli, avocado, onions, garlic, and walnuts are all great foods that are going to be rich in antioxidants. So anything green, anything that has color, you want to eat those.
Other foods are called polyphenols and plant sterols. These polyphenols and plant sterols protect the plants from UV sunlight and the environment that they’re in, so they don’t kill off the plants. So when we eat these foods, and we eat them raw or lightly cooked, we’re eating these polyphenols, and guess what they’re doing? They’re also protecting our cells and our tissue when we consume them. And the reason you want these antioxidants in there, like I said, is that it’s going to protect your cells, but it’s also going to protect you from cancer, heart disease, and inflammation in your joints. It’s going to protect your nervous system and your brain. It helps with anti-aging. This is why you want to consume these. I get often asked what causes oxidative stress. And like I said, a poor diet, smoking, drinking, alcohol, exposure to environmental toxins.
Some drug medications will cause oxidative stress. So the better your diet is, the healthier you are, and the better these things are going to be, right? Oxidative stress and inflammation is low. So we’re going to wrap this conversation up, and I just want to summarize those food categories to avoid sugar, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, and all the nice shade foods, which is the category and foods that have MS, G. So if you avoid these foods, you’re going to feel better. If you’re interested in learning more about how to improve your health and you’re curious about working with me, go to my website. I’ll put the link in this video, go to my website, and schedule a free 15-minute phone consultation. I offer these to learn a little bit about my patients before they come on board. I explain how I work with my clients, and if we have a mutual interest in working together, we move on.
I do work with patients via telemedicine, so that is an option as well. If you found this information to be helpful and you took a lot of notes, please share this video with someone who can also highly benefit from these great tips when it comes to nutrition. Thank you for your time, guys. And until next time, be blessed. Thank you for listening to Physician Heal Thyself, the podcast. If you like what you’ve heard, please like, share and subscribe, help this message, and reach more people who may need to hear it. Leave your comments. I want to know what you think. If you’re interested in learning more about Raices, visit our website. Until next time, be blessed.